UK harvest remains challenging despite modest improvements from northern crops

As harvest 2026 enters its closing stages across much of the UK, we have today published our third harvest report.

Much of the remaining activity is concentrated in Scotland, Northern Ireland and parts of northern England and as combines have moved further north, progress has slowed due to wetter conditions.

This change in weather has also coincided with a rise in crop moisture levels compared with those seen earlier in the harvest.

Overall yields remain disappointing following another season of prolonged dry weather.

While some crops have performed better in northern areas, this has brought only modest improvements to the national picture. Significant variability in both yield and quality continues to make it difficult to draw firm conclusions about the overall harvest outcome.

As a result, we have not published crop production estimates at this stage.

Wheat

Wheat yields continue to disappoint at around 12% below the five-year average.

This benchmark is already relatively low, having been influenced by the below-average harvests recorded in 2024 and 2025.

Barley and oats

Winter barley harvest is now largely complete, with yields broadly in line with five-year averages.

Spring barley yields remain particularly challenging at 4.6 t/ha, around 19% below average, while oats are currently averaging 4.4 t/ha, down 17%.

However, national averages only tell part of the story given the exceptionally wide variation in both yields and quality for barley and oats.

Oilseed rape

Oilseed rape yields remain a notable exception, with harvest complete and average yields up 19% compared to the UK five-year average.

Helen Plant, AHDB's Cereals & Oilseeds Lead Analyst, said:

"As harvest moves into its final stages, the overall picture remains one of considerable variability. The differences we are seeing between farms are significant.

"Factors such as soil type, drilling date, use of organic fertilisers and seed choice all appear to be influencing final performance."

Helen added:

"Quality variation is another key feature of this harvest and will make crop management more challenging. While there are signs of improvement in some northern areas, average cereal yields continue to be disappointing following another season where rainfall from spring onwards has been in short supply.

Our Harvest Toolkit for Cereals and Oilseeds brings together practical guidance on sampling, storage and contracts to help growers manage some of those challenges.

Anthony Hopkins, AHDB's Director of Cereals & Oilseeds, said:

"As harvest has progressed further north, better yields in some of those areas have brought a modest improvement to UK averages over the past two weeks. But this report also underlines just how damaging the hot and dry weather has been to crop yields across large parts of the UK.

"Despite harvest being well-advanced nationally, the exceptional variability we’re seeing means average yields only tell part of the story. For many growers, this has been an extremely challenging harvest, while significant variation in crop quality will create additional challenges for growers and grain buyers as marketing decisions are made."